Apparatus for heat treating liquids



June 12, 1945. w. J. OfBRlEN APPARATUS FOR HEAT TREATING LIQUIDS Filed March 30, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1N VENT OR.

June 12, 1945. w. J. O'BRIEN APPARATUS FOR HEAT TREATING LIQUI'DS Filed March 30,; 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

- rials which are not available.

Patented June 12, 1945 v I UNITED ST TE 5. PIAT APPARATUS FOR HEAT rReArmGmQUIns William. J. OBrien, Syracuse, N. Application March 30, is a's'rji'a 196,481,163

3 claims, (01

This invention has to do with a device for heat treating liquids, particularly in treating liquids by mixing live steam with the liquid during a continuous flow thereof. An example of a use of the device is the heat treatment of raw milk to efiect .pasteurization thereof preparatory to using the 'milk' for the manufacture of dairy products.

At the present time milk is treated, or pas: teurized, by bringing it up to a relatively high temperature while it is confined in a'vessel, or the like, by the external application ipf heat. This is the only satisfactory method of pasteurizing milk intended for general consumption. It can not'be pasteurized by 'directsteam contact in view of the fact that the condensed steam would materially increase the water content'of' the milk, whereupon it"would not contain the required legal butter fat content.

There are however certain instances'wherein' addition'to the water content of the milk does not adversely affect it because during the manufacture of the product, the water content is auto-' cheese are made from raw milk and usuallyfrom' raw milk of poor grade, with the result that the cheese is' unfit for consumption ifthe cheese is stored. At the present time, a vast amount of cheese is not consumed within a relatively short time after its manufacture, but isQtransported in' foreign shipment and stored for eventual military and civilian use, with the result that large volumes of this cheese shipped to'foreign destinations have spoiled before it could be used.

To efiect pasteurization of the raw' milk; the

countered but, at the present time, it is in fact impossible to obtain such apparatus because it is constructed almost entirely of strategic mate- The device of this invention is not only useful to effect pasteurization, as the process is conventionally understood, but it is particularly effective in killing gas forming organisms which is the main cause of poor quality cheese and results in gassy fermentation-and spoilage of the cheese. 7 i the device kills thermodonic and thermophilic organisms which are immune to" regular and conventional methods of pasteurization. ,Accord-.- ingly, the devicevery useful inthe pre-'treatment of. milk;whichfis subsequently pasteurized in the regular manner. When so used, the in-" stantaneous contact of the diffused steam with the milk, for a period not long enough to unduly add to the 'watercontentofthe milk, is effective to kill such organisms and the various other bac disadvantages of the conventional pasteurizing apparatus, above alluded to, are not only en teria. that may beicb ntained in the milk is: effece tively eliminated by subsequent regular pasteurization.

This invention. I

heat treating or pasteurizing liquids embodying a structure which'isparticularly economical to construct, which is ionly asinall fractional part of the sizeof aconventional pasteurizerhaving the same outputgand which employs only a'small.

fractional .part of the. material which would be required .to construct a conventional pasteuriz-j for handling a comparable volume ing apparatus ofliqiiidi V s The invention has am further objectga device having theadvantagesreferredto and, at the same time, capable of being completely. disassembled, cleaneid and sterilized, and reassembled inamatter of minutes.

The inventionconsists in the novel features and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter: set forth" and claimed.

-In describing thisinvention, reference is bad to the accompanying drawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views. f v

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a device embodying my invention, f

Figure '2 is a transverse on line 2--2, Figure 1. 3

Figure 3 is a plan view or one of the "diffusing disks arranged in the de'vicei Figure 4 is asectional view or a portion of the StaCkformation of disks, the

View being taken onfline 4- 4, Figure 3,

ends.

and a closure l I i's detachably secured to this end ofthe casing asby eye-bolts l2 carried'by bifurcated lugs l3 extending radially'from the casing and cooperating with" similar lugs l4' formed on the closure ll, 'the'closure being held in liquid tight engagementfwith the end of the casing throughthe"instrumentality of a ma- The direct steam contact effected :by'

has as an object a device for sectional viewtak'en chined or ground joint. The opening in the opposite end of the casing is smaller and'arranged to receive a mating pipe coupling member I5 which is detachably secured to the casing in the conventional manner by nut l6 threading onto the end of the casing. The closure ll is likewise formed to receivethe couplinglB which is detachably secured to the end closure by nut IS.

The casing is also provided with an opening 20 arranged in the side walladjacent one end of the casing. As theeasme is formed with an apertured laterally extending hub 2| also externally threaded to receive nut 22 for pipe coupling 23. Steam is admitted through one" end opening, and the treated liquid passes out of the casing through the opposite end opening, the side opening constituting an inlet open-' ing for the liquid being treated. In the arrangement shown, steam under pressure is admitted through the bottom end closure II by meansof I pipe 22. The raw milk is admitted through open.-

mg 20 by means of pipe-23, and the treated inilk tu'r'e's which are maintained in r gister to pre ce a1 gammy through.

ori or more passagesest X H the steak-formation. The plates finfofln in sha e to the cross sectional shape at the but or less dimension to, provide a space b etweeii the Penn y of t i sac re a n; n i? nt ri r of the casi g. Pfeiefably, and-as hije' sh the casing an stac i rm noaere 6f circular form, the plates being in thiiiatiir'e of disks foirndfroiii thiiisheetiiiaterial. x 4

In Figures land f1 the tme nessend partedlarly' the spaing of the plates afeexa'ggerated in or'der'to more eieany illustrate the armature.

In the device in actual use, the plates are i i-me neighborhood of one-sixteenth of an iiicliiin thickness and are spaced apart in theni'ghbrhood ofiive thousandtlis' ofan inch! This spacing may be efi'ected by any suitabl'constriiotidn. For example, alternatev ones ofthe plates or disks,

as 35; may be formedlflat; while the, intermediate 1 disks, as are formed with slight projections 21 on one side and similar projections 28 oil-theopposite side. The projections Z L Zli can be economically formed by striking depressions in the plates during the blanking or forming operation.

T t are lym me 93 fitii l ing member which functions to maintain the disks in stack formationthereto, and also maintain the aperture, or apertures, in the disks; in register or alineinent, so as to form one or more passages extending axially through the -stack formation; Ashore shown, each plate 25 2G,- is feigned with a central aperture 28 to reoeive a pin 29, or like member, for maintaining the disks in stackformotion. The disks are also provided with one or more apertures 30,- and the'pin 29 is cooperable with the disks to maintain the apertures 30 alinementso as to provide passages extending axially through the stack formation, u L

{is here shown, the centralaperture Z8 is provided with a flat side 3i, and the pin- 29is flattened at; one side, as at 32, whereby the plates are retained against relative rotation, but are s1id ably mounted upon the pin. The pin '29 is of v appreciably greater length than the thickness of the stack and is formed at one end with a head 33, and at the opposite end with a snap ring 34. The purpose of this construction is to permit convenient handling of the stack formation and to permit the disks to be separated axially after the stack is removed from the casing, whereby the disks can be conveniently cleaned by brushing, washing, etc. A disk baffle plate is arranged on the top of the stackand is not apertured except centre-n37 to receive the pin 29;

This stack formation of plates is arranged in the casing and supported upon the lower end closure H, the disks being yieldingly pressed together by, a spring 36 positioned on the top bafile disk 35 and coasting with the adjacent end of the casing; The disks are somewhat less in cross sectional dimension than the interior of the easing, whereby a concentric space 38 is provided between the periphery of the stack formation and theinteriorpf the casing. I n operation, the steam I passes upwardly through the apertures tll and laterally between the disks 25, 26, the liquid being treated flowing upwardly through the passage 38; wherebythe steam is difiused in the liquid during its travel towardthe outlet end of the casing.- Preferably, an arcuate bailie 40 is positioned between-the casing and the stack tormation in proximityito the inlet 2B. This baflie assists in directing the milk;, c 'r liquid, around the stack formation at the bottomief the casing, and also prevents the live steam from blowing back into the line-23.

I It will be apparentthat' it is only necessary to remove a-short seetion from the milk supply pipe and connect the heattreating deviee in place of the removed section, the installation requiring only a short period of time and can be efiected without any shut-down, or other disturbance; of the dairy operation. a v

In operation, the devicehas'been found to work quietly, and efiiciently, It may be quicklyand conveniently disconnected from the pipeline and completely disassembled and sterilized in a matter of; minutes. 2 V

' What I' claim is 1. An apparatus for heat treating liquids com-- relationin stack formation upon an axially ex tending retaining member, means for limiting.

the minimum spacing between said plates, and said :plates being separately movable axially along said-retaining member, said stack being removable as a unit from the casing andsaid retaining member having enlarged ends to prevent displacement of the'plates when the stack is removed from: the casing, each of said plates:

being formed with an aperture and said retaining member being operable to maintain said platesa positioned with their respective apertures inalinement to form a passage extendingaxially ing from thesteam inlet and toward the liquid outlet end and engaging said endyolosure; spring means cooperable with said stack at the opposite end of the casing and operable to maintainsaid plates in said minimum spacing.

2. Anapparatusfor heat treating liquids com;-

prising a cylindrical casing open at one end, said casing being formed with a liquid outlet in the opposite end and a liquid inlet in the side wall adjacent the open end, a closure detachably se- 'cooperable to limit the spacing between the plates, and means yieldingly holding said plates in said minimum spaced relation, said stack formation being formed with an aperture extending axially therethrough and an imperforate baflie plate arranged on the end of the stack in proximity to said liquid outlet, and an arcuate removable baffle positioned intermediate the periphery of the stack formation and the interior of the casing in proximity to said liquid inlet.

3. An apparatus for heat treating liquids comprising a casing open at one end and being formed with a liquid outlet passage in its oppo-, site end and with a liquidinlet passage in the side wall adjacent said open end, 'an end closure detachably secured to the open end of the casing and being formed with a steam inlet passage, a plurality of plates formed with a central aperture and a plurality of openings, a retaining member extending through the central aperture of the plates and maintainingthe same in stack formation, said retaining member being slidablyv mounted in the plates and of greater length than 'said stack formation and having enlarged ends, whereby the stack may be removed as a unit from the casing and the plates are separately movable axially on said retaining member, said plates having means coo-perable to maintain the plates in spaced apart relation in said stack formation and with the openings in the plates in alinement forming passages extending axially through the stack formation said stack formation being positioned centrally in the casing upon said end closure, and an imperforate plate positioned on the end of the stack formation in proximity to said liquid outlet.

WILLIAM J. OBRIEN. 

